Earthquake

I felt my first earthquake today. I didn't completely realize that's what it was since I'd never felt one, but I was sitting at my desk and it sounded like the building's hvac system was going haywire or something. Then I heard someone down the hall say it was a tremor.

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Earthquake sends tremors throughout central Pennsylvania
By The Patriot-News
June 03, 2010, 9:40AM
Another earthquake in central Pennsylvania?

At about 8:25 this morning, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 2.9 magnitude earthquake centered in the Dillsburg area that was reverberated across the West Shore.

The quake was also felt in New Cumberland, Camp Hill, Shiremanstown, Mechanicsburg, Boiling Springs and surrounding areas. There were even reports that the tremor was felt across the river as far away as Harrisburg and Middletown.

The duration of the tremor was about two seconds, according to one Franklin Twp. resident. There have been no reports of damage from residents.

In fact, minor earthquakes are not uncommon in the region. According to a Millersville University study, there were a whopping 49 tremors centered in the Dillsburg area between October and December of 2008. though all under 3.0 on the Richter scale.

One of the most powerful Pennsylvania quakes in recent history was an earthquake of magnitude 4.6 struck that Berks County in 1994, rattling homes as far away as the Philadelphia suburbs.

How did the West Shore tremor rate compared to a catastrophic earthquake?

Each jump on the Richter scale of one point equals an order of magnitude of 10. So, for example, a 4.0 quake would be 10 times more powerful than a 3.0, while a 5.0 quake would be 100 times more powerful.

The recent earthquake in Haiti was magnitude 7.0. That means it was roughly 10,000 times more powerful than the tremors centered in northern York County on Thursday morning.